In his recent letter George Ebanks makes a plea for public tennis courts in his home district of Bodden Town. The Cayman Islands Tennis Club would be delighted to see his suggestion bear fruit.
We are heartily in favour of the development of tennis on the Island. We must, however, correct the record relating to membership at CITC.
Annual fees here are $200 per annum. Mr. Ebanks’ estimate of monthly court fees also needs correcting. If he paid $200 per month in court fees he would have to play 16 times a month and be the only person who paid for the court. A more likely figure would be $48 per month for someone playing singles twice a week as many Club players do, or $24 per month for someone who plays doubles twice a week, as even more members do. (Players normally share court fees.) All this is, of course, for the 500 or so adults who belong to our Club. Junior player fees pay just $50 a year and they can join the after school programme, at about $10 per coaching session. There is a modest Club scholarship plan for those in need and the Tennis Federation of the Cayman Islands has been a helpful contributor to junior teams travelling abroad. We also welcome schools and their PE teachers during off peak hours, without charge, and we lend racquets for these sessions. Our manager, Rob Seward, arranges groups of this type. In fact he has come to us from a huge junior public tennis facility in California so is very experienced in this area of junior development.
This Club does not make a profit, and, like many clubs on the Island, every dollar we receive goes to paying staff and to maintenance and improvement of our facilities. Mr. Ebanks should come and see that we now offer two surfaces for play, six hard courts and three new clay courts. We were proud to see that the recent clay court doubles champions were brothers Nikhil and Panav Jha, who have grown up as juniors in the Club, and are currently training with our Head Pro, Eduardo Torres.
Mr. Ebanks is right though: tennis in public parks should be in addition to, not instead of, tennis in tennis clubs. A further dimension will be offered by the Ritz, which will be opening soon and will offer both clay and grass courts, thus expanding the opportunities for players on the Island to develop their skills on all three surfaces. Since 2002 the Ritz has organized some of the world’s greatest players to come down here for exhibitions and charity events, thus further promoting the sport and enhancing the profile of the Islands as a tennis destination.
If Bodden Town leads the way with public courts we will do everything we can to help and look forward to the challenge our juniors will face when new players trained by Mr. Ebanks emerge from the East.
The Board of Directors
Cayman Islands Tennis Club
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